Thin-film transistor display devices

ABSTRACT

Thin-film transistor display devices include composite electrodes which provide low resistance contacts and paths for electrical signals and are less susceptible to parasitic metal migration which can limit display quality and lifetime. In particular, a thin-film transistor (TFT) display device is provided having an insulated gate electrode on a face of a substrate (e.g., transparent substrate) and a semiconductor layer on the insulated gate electrode, opposite the face of the substrate. Spaced apart source and drain electrodes are also provided on the semiconductor layer. These source and drain electrodes each preferably comprise a composite of at least two layers containing respective metals therein of different element type. Preferably, one of the layers comprises a metal which is capable of forming a low resistance contact with electrodes such as a pixel electrode (e.g., transparent indium-tin-oxide electrode) and the other of the layers comprises a relatively low resistance metal so that the overall effective resistance of each composite electrode is maintained at a low level.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to display devices and methods offabrication, and more particularly to liquid crystal display devices andmethods of fabricating liquid crystal display devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In order to minimize the space required by display devices,research into the development of various flat panel display devices suchas LCD display devices, plasma display panels (PDP) andelectro-luminescence displays (EL), has been undertaken to displacelarger cathode-ray tube displays (CRT) as the most commonly used displaydevices. Particularly, in the case of LCD display devices, liquidcrystal technology has been explored because the optical characteristicsof liquid crystal material can be controlled in response to changes inelectric fields applied thereto.

[0003] At present, the dominant methods for fabricating liquid crystaldisplay devices (LCD) and panels are methods based on amorphous silicon(a-Si) thin film transistor (TFT) technologies. Using thesetechnologies, high quality image displays of substantial size can befabricated using low temperature processes. As will be understood bythose skilled in the art, conventional LCD devices typically include atransparent (e.g., glass) substrate with an array of thin filmtransistors thereon, pixel electrodes, orthogonal gate and data lines, acolor filter substrate and liquid crystal material between thetransparent substrate and color filter substrate. The use of a-Si TFTtechnology typically also requires the use of separate peripheralintegrated circuitry to drive the gates and sources (i.e., data inputs)of the TFTs in the array. Therefore, there is typically provided a largenumber of pads for connecting the gate lines (which are coupled to thegates of the TFTs) and data lines (which are coupled to the sources ofthe TFTs) to the peripheral drive circuitry.

[0004]FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic layout of aconventional LCD display device. Here, plurality of gate lines 3 andplurality of data lines 7 are arranged in a substrate 1 in a matrixformat. A plurality of gate pads 5 and a plurality of data pads 9 arealso provided at ends of the gate lines 5 and the data lines 7,respectively. A portion of the device enclosed by one gate line 3 andone data line 7 typically forms a pixel 11. In addition, FIG. 2 is aflowchart illustrating five steps of a conventional method of forming aTFT-LCD display device, and FIGS. 3-5 are sectional views illustrating aTFT-LCD manufactured by the conventional method of FIG. 2.

[0005] A conventional method for manufacturing a TFT-LCD display devicewill now be described with reference to FIGS. 2-5. First, a first metallayer, having a stacked structure including chromium (Cr) and analuminum (Al) alloy, is formed on a transparent glass substrate 100 to apredetermined thickness. Then, the first metal layer is etched by afirst photolithography process to form a gate electrode 10 and a gateline 10′ on a TFT portion and gate pad portion of the substrate 100(step 101). Then, a layer (e.g., nitride layer) is deposited onthe-entire surface of the substrate having the gate electrode 10 and thegate line 10′ thereon to form a gate insulation layer 12. An amorphoussilicon layer and an impurity-doped amorphous silicon layer are thensequentially deposited on the gate insulation layer 12 to form anamorphous semiconductor layer. Next, the amorphous semiconductor layeris patterned by a second photolithography process, resulting in asemiconductor layer pattern 14 on the TFT portion of the substrate 100(step 102).

[0006] Then, a second metal layer such as Cr is deposited on the entiresurface of the insulation layer 12 and on the amorphous semiconductorlayer pattern 14 to a predetermined thickness. The second metal layer isthen patterned by a third photolithography process to form a data line16 a and a source/drain electrode 16 b on the TFT portion of thesubstrate, a gate pad 16 c on the gate pad portion of the substrate, anda data pad 16 d on a data pad portion of the substrate (step 103), asillustrated by FIGS. 3-5, respectively.

[0007] A passivation layer 18 is then formed on the entire surface ofthe above structure to a predetermined thickness. The passivation layer18 is then patterned to expose parts of the drain electrode 16 b, thegate line 10′ and data pad 16 d using a fourth photolithography process(step 104). After forming an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) layer as atransparent conductive layer on the entire surface of the structurehaving the passivation layer pattern 18 thereon, the ITO layer ispatterned by a fifth photolithography process to form a pixel electrode20 (step 105).

[0008] Unfortunately, the use of chromium (Cr) as the second metal layermay not be preferred as a data line material because it typically has arelatively high resistivity. This relatively high resistivity can leadto an increased RC delay associated with the data line and can reducethe maximum viewing angle of the display. The use of chromium as thesecond metal layer may also be limited by the frequency of formation ofmetal line discontinuities during processing which can reduce deviceyield.

[0009] Also, the use of aluminum (Al) or an alloy thereof may not bepreferred because contact formation between aluminum based alloys andindium-tin-oxide (ITO) layers typically results in the formation ofaluminum oxide clusters. These oxide clusters typically act aselectrical insulators and increase contact resistance. As will beunderstood by those skilled in the art, these insulating clusters aretypically formed when current passes through the aluminum/ITO contactsand causes aluminum atoms to migrate into the ITO. This parasiticphenomenon is typically referred to as “metal migration”.

[0010] Thus, notwithstanding the above described method of formingTFT-LCD devices, there continues to be a need for improved methods offorming TFT-LCD display devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provideimproved thin-film transistor display devices and methods of formingsame.

[0012] It is another object of the present invention to providethin-film transistor display devices which are less susceptible toparasitic metal migration, and methods of forming same.

[0013] It is still another object of the present invention to providethin-film transistor display devices having improved electrode anddisplay characteristics, and methods of forming same.

[0014] These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention are provided by thin-film transistor display devices havingimproved composite electrodes which provide, among other things, lowresistance contacts and paths for electrical signals and are lesssusceptible to parasitic metal migration which can limit display qualityand lifetime, and methods of forming same. In particular, a thin-filmtransistor (TFT) display device is provided having an insulated gateelectrode on a face of a substrate (e.g., transparent substrate) and asemiconductor layer on the insulated gate electrode, opposite the faceof the substrate. Spaced apart source and drain electrodes are alsoprovided on the semiconductor layer. These source and drain electrodeseach preferably comprise a composite of at least two layers containingrespective metals therein of different element type. Preferably, one ofthe layers comprises a metal which is capable of forming a lowresistance contact with electrodes such as a pixel electrode (e.g.,transparent indium-tin-oxide electrode) and the other of the layerscomprises a relatively low resistance metal so that the overalleffective resistance of each composite electrode is maintained at a lowlevel.

[0015] According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention,an insulated gate electrode is provided which contains a composite gateelectrode on a face of a substrate and a gate insulating layer on thecomposite gate electrode. Here, the composite gate electrode preferablycomprises a first gate layer containing a refractory metal such aschromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), titanium (Ti) and tantalum (Ta), and asecond gate layer containing aluminum on the first gate layer. Asemiconductor layer comprising a composite of two amorphous silicon(a-Si) layers is also provided on the gate insulating layer, oppositethe face of the substrate. Here, the composite semiconductor layerpreferably comprises an undoped first amorphous silicon layer having athickness of about 2000 Å and a second doped (e.g., N-type) amorphoussilicon layer having a thickness of about 500 Å on the first amorphoussilicon layer. Spaced apart source and drain electrodes are alsoprovided on the composite semiconductor layer, in ohmic contact withsecond amorphous silicon layer. These spaced apart source and drainelectrodes define a channel region in the semiconductor layer whichextends opposite the insulated gate electrode. Here, the source anddrain electrodes each comprise a first metal layer containing arefractory metal and a second metal layer containing aluminum. Thesecond metal layer preferably has a lower resistivity than the firstmetal layer to provide a low overall electrode resistance, however, thefirst metal layer preferably allows for the formation of low resistanceohmic contacts thereto which are less susceptible to metal migration andoxide cluster formation. Such contacts include an ohmic contact betweenthe drain electrode and an indium-tin-oxide pixel electrode.

[0016] According to another embodiment of the present invention, amethod of forming a thin-film transistor display device is providedwhich comprises the steps of forming an insulated gate electrode on aface of a substrate and then forming a semiconductor layer on theinsulated gate electrode, opposite the face. Spaced apart compositesource and drain electrodes are then formed on the semiconductor layer.These source and drain electrodes preferably each comprise a compositeof at least two layers containing respective metals therein of differentelement type. In particular, one of the layers is provided so that eachcomposite electrode has low overall resistance and the other of thelayers is provided so that low resistance ohmic contacts can be formedthereto. According to this preferred embodiment, a pixel electrode(e.g., indium-tin-oxide) is also formed in ohmic contact with the one ofthe layers in the composite drain electrode. Here, for example, thedrain electrode is formed as a composite of a patterned first metallayer comprising a refractory metal and a patterned second metal layerthereon containing aluminum. The pixel electrode is then preferablyformed by removing a portion of the patterned second metal layer toexpose the patterned first metal layer and then depositingindium-tin-oxide onto the exposed first metal layer. In addition, toprovide low overall resistance, the second metal layer is formed havinga thickness of about 2000 Å and the first metal layer is formed having athickness of about 1000 Å so that the resistivity of the composite ofthe first and second metal layers is dominated by the resistivity of thesecond metal layer which is typically lower than the resistivity of thefirst metal layer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the general layout of aconventional liquid crystal display device.

[0018]FIG. 2 is a flowchart of steps illustrating a method of forming athin-film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) device accordingto the prior art.

[0019] FIGS. 3-5 illustrate schematic cross-sectional views ofintermediate structures illustrating a method of forming a thin-filmtransistor display device according to the method of FIG. 2.

[0020] FIGS. 6-8 illustrate schematic cross-sectional views of athin-film transistor display device according to a first embodiment ofthe present invention.

[0021]FIG. 9 is a flowchart of steps illustrating a method of forming athin-film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) device accordingto the present invention.

[0022] FIGS. 10-14 illustrate schematic cross-sectional views ofintermediate structures illustrating a method of forming a thin-filmtransistor display device according to the method of FIG. 9.

[0023]FIG. 15 illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of athin-film transistor display device according to a second embodiment ofthe present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] The present invention will now be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichpreferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may,however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed aslimited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodimentsare provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, andwill fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in theart. In the drawings, the thickness of layers and regions areexaggerated for clarity. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

[0025] Referring now to FIGS. 6-8, a thin-film transistor display deviceaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention will now bedescribed. Here, FIGS. 6-8 illustrate cross-sectional views of portionsof an integrated thin-film transistor display device, including athin-film transistor portion, a gate pad portion and a data pad portion,respectively. In particular, FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-sectional viewof a thin-film transistor display device comprising an insulated gateelectrode on a face of a transparent semiconductor substrate 200 (e.g.,glass). The insulated gate electrode may comprise a composite gateelectrode on the face of the substrate 200 and a surrounding gateinsulating layer 34 which may comprise an oxide or silicon nitride. Thecomposite gate electrode preferably comprises a first gate layer 30 anda second gate layer 32. The first gate layer 30 may comprise arefractory metal such as chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), titanium (Ti)and tantalum (Ta) and the second gate layer 32 may comprise an aluminumalloy such as an aluminum-neodymium alloy (Al—Nd). Alternatively, thesecond gate layer 32 may be formed on the face of the substrate 200 andthe first gate layer 30 may be formed on an upper surface of the secondgate layer 32. In addition, a patterned semiconductor layer 36 isprovided on an upper surface of the gate insulating layer 34. Thepatterned semiconductor layer 36 preferably comprises amorphous silicon(a-Si) and more preferably comprises a composite of a undoped firstamorphous silicon layer and a doped (e.g., N-type) second amorphoussilicon layer on the first amorphous silicon layer. Here, the secondamorphous silicon layer is provided so that low resistance contacts(e.g., source and drain contacts) can be made to the patternedsemiconductor layer 36.

[0026] Spaced apart source and drain electrodes 41 b are also providedon the patterned semiconductor layer 36. Preferably, each of the sourceand drain electrodes 41 b comprises a composite of at least two layers38 and 40. As illustrated by FIGS. 6 and 8, a data line 41 a (which isconnected to the source electrode 41 b) is also provided as a compositeof the two layers 38 and 40. In particular, the first metal layer 38preferably comprises a refractory metal selected from the groupconsisting of chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), titanium (Ti) and tantalum(Ta) and the second metal layer 40 preferably comprises an aluminumalloy such as an aluminum-neodymium alloy (Al—Nd). According to thisembodiment, the first metal layer 38 is capable of forming a lowresistance contact with electrodes such as a pixel electrode 44 a (e.g.,transparent indium-tin-oxide electrode) and the second metal layer 40preferably comprises a relatively low resistance metal so that theoverall effective resistance of each composite source and drainelectrode (and data line, etc.) is maintained at a low level. The firstmetal layer 38 also preferably comprises a metal which is lesssusceptible to metal migration when a current is passed therethrough.

[0027] As illustrated by FIGS. 6-8, a patterned passivation layer 42 isalso provided and a pixel electrode 44 a, gate pad 44 b and data pad 44c are provided in contact holes in the passivation layer 42. Preferably,the pixel electrode 44 a, gate pad 44 b and data pad 44 c form ohmiccontacts with the first metal layer 38 in the drain electrode, the firstgate layer 30 in the gate electrode and the first metal layer 38 in thedata line 41 a, respectively. The pixel electrode 44 a, gate pad 44 band data pad 44 c may comprise indium-tin-oxide (ITO). Alternatively,the ordering of the first and second metal layers 38 and 40 may bereversed so that the first metal layer 38 is formed on an upper surfaceof the second metal layer 40.

[0028] Referring now to FIGS. 9-14, preferred methods of formingthin-film display devices according to the present invention will now bedescribed. According to one embodiment of the present invention, amethod of forming a thin-film display device comprises the steps offorming an insulated gate electrode (and gate line) on a face of atransparent substrate 200 (e.g., glass). As illustrated best by FIG. 10and step 201 in FIG. 9, these steps include the steps of depositing alayer 30 of a refractory metal such as chromium, molybdenum, titaniumand tantalum on the face of the substrate 200 and then depositing alayer 32 of an aluminum alloy such as Al—Nd on the refractory metallayer. Preferably, the refractory metal layer may be deposited to have athickness of about 1000 Å and the aluminum alloy layer may be depositedto have a thickness of about 2000 Å. These metal layers are thenpatterned using conventional techniques to form a gate electrode on aTFT portion of the substrate and a gate line on a gate pad portion ofthe substrate, as illustrated. As illustrated best by FIG. 11, aninsulating layer 34 having a thickness of about 3000 Å is then depositedon the substrate 200. The insulating layer 34 may comprise an oxide,silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride, for example. Referring still toFIG. 11 and step 202 in FIG. 9, a patterned semiconductor layer 36 isthen formed on the insulating layer 34, opposite the gate electrode. Thepatterned semiconductor layer 36 preferably comprises a composite of afirst undoped amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer having a thickness of about2000 Å and a second doped (e.g., N-type) amorphous silicon layer havinga thickness of about 500 Å, on the first amorphous silicon layer. Thedoped second amorphous silicon layer is preferably provided so thathighly conductive ohmic contacts can be easily formed with subsequentlypatterned source and drain electrodes, as described below.

[0029] Referring to FIG. 12 and step 203 of FIG. 9, the steps of formingcomposite source and drain electrodes 41 b and a composite data line 41a will now be described. In particular, a first metal layer 38 having athickness of about 1000 Å is deposited on the insulating layer 34 andpatterned semiconductor layer 36 and then a second metal layer 40 isdeposited on the first metal layer 38. These metal layers are thenpatterned using conventional techniques to form composite source anddrain electrodes 41 b and a data line 41 a and expose an upper portionof the patterned semiconductor layer 36, as illustrated. The first metallayer 38 is preferably deposited as a refractory metal layer so that lowresistance contacts can be formed thereto and the second metal layer 40is preferably formed as an aluminum alloy layer having low resistivityso that the drain and source electrodes and data line have low overallresistance (and lower RC delay associated therewith).

[0030] Referring now to FIG. 13 and step 204 of FIG. 9, a passivationlayer 42 (e.g., nitride) having a thickness in a range between about2000-4000 Å is then deposited and then patterned to define first, secondand third contact holes (CH1-CH3) which expose end portions of the drainelectrode 41 b, gate line and data line 41 a, respectively. Here, thepatterned second metal layer 40 and the patterned second gate layer 32are also wet etched to expose portions of the patterned first metallayer 38 and patterned first gate layer 30 (i.e., expose the refractorymetal portions of the drain electrode, gate line and data line). Thus,those portions of the drain electrode, gate line and data line which aresusceptible to contact deterioration caused by metal migration, areremoved to expose refractory metal portions which are capable forforming high quality and reliable ohmic contacts which are lesssusceptible to oxide cluster formation. Alternatively, in the event therefractory metal layers 30 and 38 are formed on upper surfaces of thealuminum alloy layers 32 and 40, then this wet etching step can beeliminated.

[0031] Referring now to FIG. 14 and step 205 of FIG. 9, a blankettransparent conductive-layer (e.g., indium-tin-oxide) is then formed onthe entire surface of the structure of FIG. 13 and into the contactholes. The transparent conductive layer is then patterned using a dryetching step to define a pixel electrode 44 a, gate pad 44 b and datapad 44 c. Here, the pixel electrode 44 a is formed in ohmic contact withthe first metal layer 38 of the drain electrode, the gate pad 44 b isformed in ohmic contact with the first gate layer 30 of the gateelectrode and the data pad 44 c is formed in ohmic contact with thefirst metal layer 38 of the data line. Moreover, the photolithographyprocess for patterning the transparent conductive layer may be performedusing a dry etching method, so that erosion of the Al alloy caused by awet etchant can be prevented. However, a wet etching method may be usedsince the refractory metal of the data line 41 a and the drain electrode41 b functions as a redundant layer even though the Al alloy which formsthe data line 41 a and the drain electrode 41 b together with therefractory metal is eroded by an etchant for etching the ITO layer.

[0032]FIG. 15 is a sectional view of a TFT-LCD according to anotherpreferred embodiment of the present invention. Compared to FIG. 6, anopening between the passivation layer 42 and the insulation layer 34 atthe drain electrode 41 b is wider than that shown in FIG. 6.Accordingly, since the ITO and the Al alloy 40 do not directly contactat the “C” portion, the contact between the pixel electrode 44 a and thedrain electrode 41 b is favorable.

[0033] Thus, in the TFT-LCD and the method for manufacturing the sameaccording to the present invention, the data line and the source/drainelectrode are formed as a stack of layers made of refractory metal andAl alloy. Thus, good contact resistance between the source/drainelectrode and the semiconductor layer pattern can be secured whilesimultaneously lowering the resistance of the data line. The presentinvention provides advantages in the manufacturing of large TFT-LCDdisplay devices having highly accurate and fine structures therein.Also, the gate pad and the gate line are connected through contactbetween the refractory metal and the ITO layer, so that contactresistance can be reduced compared with the conventional TFT-LCD.

[0034] In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosedtypical preferred embodiments of the invention and, although specificterms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive senseonly and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the inventionbeing set forth in the following claims.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A thin-film transistor display device,comprising: an insulated gate electrode on a face of a substrate; asemiconductor layer on said insulated gate electrode, opposite the face;spaced apart source and drain electrodes on said semiconductor layer,said source electrode comprising a composite of at least two layerscontaining respective metals therein of different element type; and apixel electrode electrically coupled to said drain electrode.
 2. Thethin-film transistor of claim 1, wherein said source electrode comprisesa first metal layer containing a refractory metal selected from thegroup consisting of chromium, molybdenum, titanium and tantalum and asecond metal layer containing aluminum.
 3. The thin-film transistor ofclaim 1, wherein said source and drain electrodes each comprise a firstmetal layer containing a refractory metal selected from the groupconsisting of chromium, molybdenum, titanium and tantalum and a secondmetal layer containing aluminum; and wherein said pixel electrodeohmically contacts the first metal layer in said drain electrode.
 4. Thethin-film transistor of claim 3, wherein said semiconductor layercomprises a first amorphous silicon layer on said insulated gateelectrode and a second amorphous silicon layer, containing dopantstherein of predetermined conductivity type, on the first amorphoussilicon layer; and wherein said drain electrode ohmically contacts thesecond amorphous silicon layer.
 5. The thin-film transistor of claim 4,wherein the first metal layer in said drain electrode is disposedbetween the second amorphous silicon layer and the second metal layer insaid drain electrode; and wherein the first metal layer in said sourceelectrode is disposed between the second amorphous silicon layer and thesecond metal layer in said source electrode.
 6. The thin-film transistorof claim 5, wherein said pixel electrode comprises indium-tin-oxide. 7.The thin-film transistor of claim 6, wherein said insulated gateelectrode comprises a first gate layer containing a refractory metalselected from the group consisting of chromium, molybdenum, titanium andtantalum, on said substrate, and a second gate layer containingaluminum, on the first gate layer.
 8. The thin-film transistor of claim7, wherein said insulated gate electrode comprises a first electricallyinsulating layer having a thickness of less than about 3000 Å on thesecond gate layer; wherein the first amorphous'silicon layer has athickness of about 2000 Å; and wherein the second amorphous siliconlayer has a thickness of about 500 Å.
 9. The thin-film transistor ofclaim 8, wherein the first and second gate layers have thicknesses ofabout 1000 Å and 2000 Å, respectively.
 10. The thin-film transistor ofclaim 9, wherein the first metal layers in said source and drainelectrodes have thicknesses of about 1000 Å and wherein the second metallayers in said source and drain electrodes have thicknesses of about2000 Å.
 11. A method of forming a thin-film transistor display device,comprising the steps of: forming an insulated gate electrode on a faceof a substrate; forming a semiconductor layer on the insulated gateelectrode, opposite the face; forming spaced apart source and drainelectrodes which each comprise a composite of at least two layerscontaining respective metals of different element type therein, on thesemiconductor layer; and forming a pixel electrode electrically coupledto said drain electrode.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein saidinsulated gate electrode forming step comprises the steps of: forming agate electrode comprising a composite of at least two layers containingrespective metals therein of different element type, on the face of thesubstrate; and forming a gate electrode insulating layer on the gateelectrode.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of forming asemiconductor layer comprises the steps of: forming a first amorphoussilicon layer on the gate electrode insulating layer; and forming asecond amorphous silicon layer containing dopants of predeterminedconductivity type therein, on the first amorphous silicon layer,opposite the gate electrode insulating layer.
 14. The method of claim13, wherein said step of forming spaced apart source and drainelectrodes comprises the steps of: forming a first metal layercontaining a refractory metal selected from the group consisting ofchromium, molybdenum, titanium and tantalum, on the second amorphoussilicon layer; forming a second metal layer containing aluminum, on thefirst metal layer; and patterning the first and second metal layers intospaced apart source and drain electrodes.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein said step of forming a pixel electrode comprises the steps offorming a pixel electrode in ohmic contact with the patterned firstmetal layer.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of forming afirst amorphous silicon layer comprises depositing a first amorphoussilicon layer having a thickness of about 2000 Å on the gate electrodeinsulating layer; and wherein said step of forming a second amorphoussilicon layer comprises depositing a second amorphous silicon layercontaining dopants therein of predetermined conductivity type and havinga thickness of about 500 Å, on the first amorphous silicon layer. 17.The method of claim 15, wherein said step of forming spaced apart sourceand drain electrodes comprises the steps of: forming a first metal layerhaving a thickness of about 1000 Å, on the second amorphous siliconlayer; and forming a second metal layer having a thickness of about 2000Å on the first metal layer.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein saidstep of forming a pixel electrode is preceded by the step of wet etchingthe patterned second metal layer to expose the patterned first metallayer.
 19. The method of claim 11, wherein said step of forming spacedapart source and drain electrodes comprises the steps of: forming afirst metal layer containing a refractory metal selected from the groupconsisting of chromium, molybdenum, titanium and tantalum, on thesemiconductor layer; forming a second metal layer containing aluminum,on the first metal layer; and patterning the first and second metallayers into spaced apart source and drain electrodes.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, wherein said step of forming a pixel electrode comprises thesteps of forming a pixel electrode in ohmic contact with the patternedfirst metal layer.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein said step offorming spaced apart source and drain electrodes comprises the steps of:forming a first metal layer having a thickness of about 1000 Å, on thesemiconductor layer; and forming a second metal layer having a thicknessof about 2000 Å on the first metal layer.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein said step of forming a pixel electrode is preceded by the stepof wet etching the patterned second metal layer to expose the patternedfirst metal layer.